Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Polish the car!

I had made it a practice to have my car polished & waxed at least once every 6 - 8 months. It is for a simple reason – to maintain and preserve the metallic paint. With an average car going through the tropical sun, heavy acid rain and pollution, it is not a surprise if you find cars with fast deteriorating paint layers – sometimes it is so bad that you may think that it has been hit by some rabies. Re-painting on the hand is very costly – it cost me RM300 to repaint just one door panel sometime ago.

The only place that I go for a good polish job is in Taiping.

Firstly it is cheap – I can get the whole job done for less than RM100 (the fact that the car wash centre is owned by my close relative helps to lower down the cost but that besides the point. I still pay the full payment most of the time. A standard wash-vacuum-polish job in Taiping is still cheaper compared to the ones we find in Klang Valley which cost almost RM350 or more for the same quality).

Secondly, the guys at the car wash really spend their time to make sure they get the best out of the polish work (I sense it is because it is the boss’ “very important” relative’s car but then again, I could be wrong. It could be just that there is not many cars going for polish job at the car wash)

Picture 1

.

It is a sunny day and it is a great day to take a nice shower, my car seems to indicate. The Iswara goes into the “assembly line” for the standard car wash and vacuum. After a long ride from KL, there is enough brake dust on my rims and on the sides to be scrapped off. So, getting a good wash is critical before they start on the polish work. Washing & vacuum job is done fast because there are at least 2 guys attending to each car

Picture 2

.

After a good wash, a layer of polish is rubbed on and polished off using a Bosch “Polisher” (I am not sure what the machine is called so I made up the name) and with clean rag. Don't be misled by the "unprofessional" look of the guys working on my car...their quality of work is professional enough. One guy will polish in whilst another will polish it off (kind of reminds me of Mr Miyagi of the Karate Kid movie’s “Wax On, Wax Off” stuff). Once it is done, a layer of wax is rubbed on and the whole process is repeated. In the end, the car is hosed down with plenty of water and rubbed dry – that is to wash away any residual polish or wax dust that may been left over on the car

Picture 3.

The confirmation that the polish work is good – I can even use it as a mirror!

Picture 4.

Doesn’t it look great with the polish on? The car is almost 3 years old with 66,000 kilometres done but looks brand new. It looks even better at night when riding around town.

To understand more on polishing & waxing, read here and here and be better equipped to take care of your car..(Filed under Del.icio.us Tag: Car).